An investigation by Homeland Security Investigations Houston resulted in a 10 year prison sentence for the leader of one of the largest marriage fraud conspiracies in American history.
Ashley Yen Nguyen, 58, will also serve three years of supervised release and pay $334,605 in fines after her prison term ends, according to an Oct. 27 news release. Nguyen pleaded guilty to the charges Nov. 5, 2020. Under terms of the plea arrangement, she admitted to conspiring to engage in marriage fraud, mail fraud, immigration fraud, money laundering and tax fraud.
“For more than four years, this individual raked in millions by operating one of the largest marriage fraud conspiracies in U.S. history," HSI Houston Special Agent in Charge Mark Dawson said in the release. “The sham marriages and improper immigration benefits that were fraudulently secured under this criminal conspiracy wasted countless federal resources, delayed an unknown number of legitimate marriages between foreign nationals and U.S. citizens and threatened national security by enabling individuals to remain in the country through deceit."
Nguyen ran her marriage fraud scheme out of the Houston-area, but had associates operating elsewhere in Texas and in Vietnam, the release reported. The ring was linked to about 500 fake marriages, many of which were arranged to allow foreign nationals to qualify for immigration benefits. The Vietnamese nationals typically paid $50,000 or more to marry someone in the U.S.
HSI partnered with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation for the investigation that led to the Oct. 27 sentencing in the Southern District of Texas, the release reported.
“As experts in investigating all types of financial crimes, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation special agents worked with our law enforcement partners and the U.S. Attorney’s Office to put a stop to this criminal network – not just from committing tax fraud and money laundering – but from also circumventing our nation’s immigration laws,” IRS-CI Houston Special Agent in Charge Ramsey E. Covington said in the release.
